South Korea condemns North over torpedoing, halts trade
BEIJING South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a scathing condemnation of the North Korean regime Monday and announced trade restrictions that ratcheted tensions to their highest level in years on the Korean peninsula, which is home to more than 25,000 U.S. troops. The White House said in a statement that it fully backed Lee, and that President Barack Obama “has directed his military …
N. Korea to scrap inter-Korean accords on preventing accidental clashes
North Korea’s military said Thursday it will scrap an inter-Korean agreement intended to prevent accidental naval clashes in the Yellow Sea, a move that could increase tension on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. ”Bilateral agreements concluded to prevent accidental conflicts in the West Sea of Korea will be declared completely null and void,” the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army announced through the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
South Korea Publicly Blames the North for Ship’s Sinking
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea formally accused North Korea on Thursday of responsibility for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors, in one of the deadliest provocations since the two countries ended the Korean War in a truce in 1953.
Will North Korea’s saber rattling lead to war?
WASHINGTON North Korea’s decision Tuesday to sever all ties with South Korea and threaten military action in disputed waters following the torpedoing of a South Korean warship confronts President Barack Obama with another international crisis that his administration doesn’t want or need.
100,000 N. Koreans rally against S. Korea rally over ship sinking
About 100,000 North Koreans rallied Sunday for the overthrow of the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in the wake of Seoul’s sanctions on the North over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. During the rally at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, citizens also criticized the United States for siding with South Korea and blaming North Korea for the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea, which left 46 sailors dead.
FPI Overnight Brief: May 28, 2010
Richard Fontaine writes: There are a few differences in substance and many in tone. But it would be wrong to say this is a break with the past US interests and values are longstanding and the tools it possesses for pursuing them are stable.
N. Korea to take firm steps if sunken ship case brought to U.N.
North Korea warned Friday it will employ ”ultra strong” countermeasures if South Korea refers the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship to the U.N. Security Council for imposing further sanctions on Pyongyang, which has been blamed for the incident. If North Korea employs ”ultra strong countermeasures,” the United States and followers such as South Korea will be held responsible for the consequences, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The Four Nuclear Outlier States
The 1970 Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) was intended to prevent new countries from developing nuclear weapons and confine the arms race to the five nuclear weapons countries of the time–the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain. Today the NPT is nearly universal.
War may break out anytime, N. Korea’s defense commission warns
South Korea’s accusation of North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship is ”so grave that a war may break out anytime,” the North’s National Defense Commission warned Friday. Any accidental clash that may break out in the Yellow Sea or in areas along the de facto maritime border in the sea ”will lead to an all-out war,” Pak Rim Su, director of the commission’s Policy Department, said at a news conference in Pyongyang.
Diet enacts law on N. Korean cargo inspection
The Japanese parliament on Friday enacted into law a bill to enable the Japan Coast Guard and customs authorities to inspect ships suspected of carrying banned cargo such as nuclear- or missiles-related materials to and from North Korea. The legislation, which was adopted in the House of Councillors by majority vote from the ruling coalition parties and the opposition New Komeito party, will allow Japan to take specific action based on a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted last June to punish Pyongyang for its second nuclear test conducted the previous month.
